Game Description: The spiritual successor to his Devil May Cry series, creator Hideki Kamiya returns to the 3D beat-'em-up genre. The titular Bayonetta is a shape-shifting witch who attacks with a devastating and stylish combo of magic, handguns, and her lengthy hair.

Bayonetta Review

Sega's twitch action game evokes the best elements of Devil May Cry and Ninja Gaiden while contributing its own unique flair to the genre. Even a hackneyed storyline and awful voice acting can't keep down Bayonetta's exceptional combat system.

The Pros

The most fluid and satisfying combat in the genre in years.

High replay value.

Exceptional and creative setpieces.

Tough enemies that never feel cheap.

The Cons

The final boss could cost you a controller.

Awful voice acting and incoherent plot

Loaded with gratuitous (and awkward) moments of misogyny.

Unintuitive moments that lead to "trial by death"

The struggle to describe what Bayonetta truly is proves to be as chaotic as the fast-paced action that drives Platinum Games' hack n' slash title. It's a love letter to PS2-era action games and Sega classics as well as a subtle jab at Capcom all in one fell swoop. The story might be about as coherent as someone describing an anime series after a three-day meth binge, yet the gameplay shines through, thanks to smart combat and great setpieces. At times, it evokes (and outpaces) the likes of Devil May Cry and Ninja Gaiden. There hasn't been a game quite as schizophrenic in its presentation in quite some time, nor has there been one nearly as well-executed.

The DMC comparisons largely stem from Platinum's pedigree as a dev house full of ex-Capcom creative directors, one of which is Hideki Kamiya, DMC's designer. It's far too easy to cynically dismiss it as a clone of Kamiya's prior effort, and it's unfair. The level of depth in Bayonetta points to a fusion of classic hack n' slash gameplay with a far deeper scope thanks to tech that didn't exist when DMC dropped in 2001. Achievement and trophy hunting aside, you'll need to replay this one time and time again to hit the bottom of the well. It's a game designed from the top down with repeat plays in mind.

As the titular heroine, you'll step into the gun-toting heels of Bayonetta, a 500 year-old witch in a mystical land where witches have the faces of supermodels and the legs of Shaquille O'Neal. It's a good thing the game points out that witches aren't human -- Bayonetta's physical characteristics are a freakish caricature of femininity. She's awakened from a twenty-year slumber with a nasty case of amnesia. Somewhere along the way, she starts picking up the pieces of the past, and it involves hideous angels trying to kill her. She has a rival, the silver-haired Jeanne (who with her red jumpsuit and motorcycle, might remind you of someone familiar), and enemies the size of small buildings trying to crush her. Thankfully, she can use her long locks to conjure demons that appear to be borrowed from the Final Fantasy Book of Summons to crush hideous cherubs and two-headed dragons with Renaissance masks for an ass. And that's just one of the first bosses you'll encounter.

Bewm Chicka Wah Wah

It's peculiar that the game takes such a fetishistic approach to its heroine; like adult entertainment, Bayonetta'splot is largely a vehicle for an orgiastic display of high-energy combat action. The story unravels as though The Divine Comedy Cliff's Notes occupied the same space in Kamiya's bathroom as an issue of Maxim. Is it poor translation? Is it a disjointed plot? Either way, it's quite bad, whether you get the winking irony of God Hand or you take your gaming entertainment at face value. There's supplemental literature you can pick up along the way (similar to how Capcom's action classics conveyed backstory), but it doesn't do much to enrich a rather hackneyed tale. Even if some of the game's cutscenes only span around five minutes, many feel more agonizing than Metal Gear Solid 4's most exasperating moments. And God forbid your significant other walk in on one of several awkward cinematic moments focused on Bayonetta sucking a lollipop or bending over to pick something up. The game's camera angles border on gynecological at times when focusing on her. I'm far from the most politically correct person, but I winced on more than one occasion at the degree of cheesecake on display.

But once you're in control of Bayonetta, the plot contrivances and piss-poor dialogue fly out the window. Suddenly, nothing matters but nailing combos and dodging attacks to activate Witch Time. The feature is arguably the best part of the combat, since it allows you to fluidly string together big hitting combinations and open up vulnerabilities in enemy defense. It's a great counterattack mechanism, and it takes some time to get used to the rhythm of knowing when a dodge is merely moving you out of the way, or when you've hit the opportunity to activate Witch Time. Bayonetta also has the ability to pull off finishers on her opponents. In some cases, she can summon a guillotine, and in others, she can crush angels with tombstones or giant bells. There's a specific finisher for each enemy type.

In addition, Bayonetta's verse system breaks down your performance on a moment-by-moment basis. Battles and big sequences define the verses in each level. It'll take a lot to complete each verse and during the first playthrough, you'll likely disappoint the game's high standards. Not to worry, though. The combat is lean and tight enough that replay value is here if you're an ardent fan of this genre, and you'll probably back track to repeat verses for better rankings. Like other games on the genre, Bayonetta can purchase upgrades, such as new hand-to-hand combat moves, stronger weapons, and ultimately expensive amulets that give her special perks. The amulet cost is yet another incentive to play through again and earn enough money to deck out Bayonetta's abilities.

Throw Me a Frickin' Bone Here!

If there's a minus to the elegant combat system, it lies in some unintuitive, head-scratching moments. As you play, you're under pressure to play well. If you die (or worse, use any power ups), it's a penalty against your overall level score and bonus rewards. Unfortunately, Bayonettais chock-full of "trial by death" moments on your first playthrough, many of which would've been totally preventable had the team implemented even the slightest warning. While no one's asking for the game to hold them by the hand, there are sections where you genuinely won't be able to figure out what in the hell the game wants you to do until you're on the verge of death. In some boss fights, one-hit kills come without much warning, and you'll finish the stage with the lowest rank possible. Undoubtedly, hardcore gamers fluent in the genre will get it, and will likely clear the game far ahead of my initial 18-hour playthrough. The final fight of the game, however, will prove maddening for most. I never spike controllers. I made an exception for the finale.

Bayonetta Laughs At Your Silly Dice Puzzles

Frustrations aside, the setpieces in Bayonetta are a sight to behold. The combat is great on its own, but thankfully the Platinum team saw fit to add some great moments to change the pace. Few are dead weight. Bayonetta must run up the sides of skyscrapers and along the tentacles of giant monstrosities, and in a great segment, re-board a jumbo jet after being ejected mid-flight alongside a half-dozen cargo containers. Other moments evoke Sega classics such as Hang-Onand Space Harrier. Although it'll take some tries to figure out how boss fights tick, they're satisfyingly larger-than-life. Alongside satisfying combat and unique setpieces, Bayonetta is full of gorgeously designed environments and villains. Whether the team made the deliberate choice to design humanoid characters highly generic-looking remains to be seen, but the bosses never ceased to leave me asking "what the #$^@ is that" in the majority of my encounters.

Fire Extinguisher

A great deal of fuss has been made regarding the performance difference between the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions, but the argument can be resolved quite simply: in this case, if you have both consoles, buy it on Xbox 360. Load times are worse on PS3 and at times, the action looks muddier, but in all honesty, PS3 owners shouldn't skip the game solely because textures aren't as good or the game loads every time you pause. Bayonetta is great no matter what platform you have, and at the end of the day, both Xbox 360 and PS3 owners should be happy stuffing angelic warriors into iron maidens.

In Other Words...

Bayonetta is a wonderful experience that I emphatically recommend for fans of the genre. Granted, the objectification and ogling of the titular character can be rather uncomfortable at times (the end credits and post-credits should be watched in solitude, if only to save yourself heaps of awkward explanation) and the awful storyline reads like an elementary school child's book report on The Divine Comedy, but like (ahem) adult entertainment, plot is secondary to action. And in that sense, the team at Platinum Games has truly forged a refreshing new entry in the hack n' slash action genre. Hopefully, Capcom and Team Ninja are taking notes. Bayonetta shoots for the moon and succeeds.

Comments are Closed

I know this is old news, and nobody cares. But I played the demo on the PS3. Im about to pick this up for the 360 since my gf is awesome and bought me one for my birthday. And I know they fixed the PS3 version (so I hear) I just think it's more fun getting gamer score than trophies to be honest.

But yes, good informative review. I'm all for the cheesy sex shots ha.

This game rocks! rock solid combat, great graphics, memorable characters. Bayonetta is the coolest witch ever. I loved DMC 4 but this one tops it. Brilliant job from Platinum games, looking forward to their future titles.

So....I played the (XBL) demo a while back (ONLY the demo)....two initial issues with it.

1.] Why the FRAG was there no Lock-On system/mechanism for this thing!?Your attention is already split from having to keep up with the fast pace, and apparently the other half of your attention must be focused on trying to properly land your attacks/combos to the right enemy.What if I wanna approach each "drone" (basic enemy "angel") methodically & one at a time..going from one enemy to the next in order to string up some insanely awesome combo??The game could seriously use some kind of lock-on button or something.At least, something along the lines of what Nightshade had, in terms of moving from one drone to the next.Hopefully, only the demo lacks this, and the actual game has it.

2.] WTF was up with the camera controls!?Towards the end, upon approaching the bridge with the boss, I just couldn't get the camera to pan around towards the direction I wanted it to go, and it always fought me on it.And for most of the game, you can't really pan the camera much if you're in a narrow corridor or something. WTF?If the game's gonna take control of the camera, then it should know where I need it to pan so I can see better on who I'm fighting. The game needs to ZOOM IN too, 'cuz the camera was a little too far away.

PLEASE tell me these two issues were resolved in the actual full game.Playing the demo got really annoying from the camera control issues & the lack of a Lock-On system.And I really don't wanna hafta deal with those 2 things once I get the game.

And the two more issues I came up with recently...

3.] This game is NOT a "Hack & Slash" game. [I initially thought it was, but not after I played the demo.]Only by going out of your way to switch to the sword (or other bladed weapons), can this even be called a "Hack & Slash" game.This game, functions more as a *Beat-'Em-Up*, with all the physical (punching & kicking) combos in it, as your main/default mode of attacking (sometimes forced upon, due to the fast pace).Or even a *Fighter* game.You'd have to actually take your time to really savor & get into playing the other weapons.

4.] And with all the Beat-'Em-Up combos, this game could've really done well with online multiplayer for it like other Fighting games (though limited characters would make for a difficult execution).

Hey Sterling....really wish you were the reviewer for Darksiders: Wrath of War, instead of Abbie.Next time you & Abbie get assigned games to review, PLEASE swap games...for the love of all things that is good.Conversely, I wish Abbie was the one to review Dark Void.She evidently specializes in shooter games, so she would've been more accustomed to the ground combat portion of the game. Flight was just garbage.

Anyways..like anomaluigi said above me, I shall be saving my money for Dante's Inferno, and will just wait for this year's Black Friday to get all the other games coming out within the first 4 months of this year.

This game was highly overrated. Combat was pretty fun, but I simply hated the pacing of the game. All the combat sequences were constantly interrupted by awful cutscenes (that do nothing to draw you into the story), lame puzzles, and random gameplay sequences.

The visual art style is fancy, but very gaudy at times, and often leaves you feeling extremely disoriented. During boss battles, you not only have to fight the giant enemies, but the camera as well. And why the hell do your moves suddenly change when you're fighting some bosses? (E.g., big fist or heel when you hit y or b) This just felt like it was patched on, to correct some sort of visual disparity.

And don't get me started on the combat... other than dodging and incessantly pressing y or b, there's really not that much to do to maintain your enthusiasm throughout the game. The action is so frantic at times that dodging and button mashing is all you really have time to do to down the enemy--this, and the occasional quick time events, which were pretty cool. I'd say that the only people who can truly enjoy and exploit all the combat mechanics in this game are those who can track moving objects a 60 frames per millisecond. But if you're a mere mortal just like me, you're gonna be left wondering most of the time where your fist ends and the enemy's face begins. And with the exception of the torture moves, all the other hits feel paper thin--they really have no punch to them.

Overall, they should have cut all the other bullcrap and offered this as straight up fighter on xboxlive and PSN. This is definitely a trade in for me, and it's going towards Dante's Inferno.

Im a big time Hideki Kamiya fan he's helped make 2 of my favorite PS2 games DMC and Okami,and Bayonetta is so over the top when it just comes to everything from the action to the graphics to the soundtrack its such a great game.

I agree with the review 100% Although I didnt think the voice acting was THAT bad, Bayonetta herself was good. Some of the craziest action I've ever seen in a game. I think it's easily better than devil may cry and ninja gaiden but it some of these god of war comparisons ive been seeing have to go. God of war is still king but Bayonetta is a kick ass game and loved every second of it...except some of the boring cut-scenes...

This was a really fun and unique game. Ive tried the demo on the PS3 at first then bought the game after. I liked the fact that it was a fast paste 3rd person fighting game, and the main charecter's personality which seperates her from the other main charecters in other games. The only thing i did'nt like in this game was that the laoding took awhile, but that does not effect the whole too much for me. In all, I am a fan of Bayonetta and cant wait for the next chapter of it. If not, then atleast a game that is just as fast paste as Bayonetta or better. fastbreak1990

I bought this game and Darksiders on the day they both came out. And I don't know what I am missing I love Darksiders and I am absolutely kicking my self in the a$$ for actually spending 60 bucks on this game. I do not like nothing about it, I just wish I could see what everyone else thinks is so great

The game is OK by all means but not really groundbreaking. You can tell this game was made with the japanese gamer in mind as it's loaded with jpop music and T&A shots. not for the kiddies. regardless of all the hype i find myself playing more of Darksiders (PS3) than bayonetta for my 360.

I'll pass on this game. The gameplay just isn't worth it for me. I wouldn't say that the PS3 has another "inferior" product because I own an Xbox 360 as well and I've seen my fare share of inferior games like Ninja Gaiden 2 as opposed to Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 and other "timed exclusives" like Tales of Vesperia and Eternal Sonata. Microsoft is feeding the world LIES!!---but kudos on XBL Modern Warfare 2!

Case-in-point, the Xbox 360 probably has more pieces of crapsticks in its lineup than the PS3. Bayonetta MIGHT look good-ish but not good enough for me to spend my money on. I'm waiting for God of War 3! PTHC---erm...I mean FTW!

Let me just say that I bought this game 5 Jan and just beat it today 8 Jan and no i wasn't playing non stop. So basically my end time for the game was at roughly 10-11 hours. This game is very frustrating even on normal mode and yea a lot of the bosses are trial by death. as a matter of fact most of the game is boss fights as every baddie that's not an angel can seriously kick your(censor) if you aren't careful. I don't know how some people can get like perfect scores on any level the 1st play through. The game in unique but is far from the DMC series. DMC is challenging but not to the point where you're yelling(censor) every so often because the bosses are so cheap. I recommend that this be a rental for those that wanna try it. and much to SEGAs credit this is their best game to date so hopefully this gets them on the right track.